Radio Frequency Interference Mitigation at the WSRT

TL;DR

This paper presents a real-time digital signal processing system using FPGA technology to effectively detect and remove radio frequency interference at the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, enhancing observational sensitivity.

Contribution

Introduction of a novel FPGA-based RFI mitigation subsystem that operates in real-time to improve interference detection and excision before correlation processing.

Findings

Enhanced RFI detection accuracy due to high temporal and frequency resolution.

Effective RFI excision improves the sensitivity of radio astronomical observations.

System operates in real-time, integrating seamlessly with existing telescope infrastructure.

Abstract

The sensitivity of radio astronomical stations is often limited by man-made radio frequency interference (RFI) due to a variety of terrestrial activities. An RFI mitigation subsystem (RFIMS) based on real-time digital signalprocessing is proposed here for the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope based on a powerful field programmable gate array processor. In this system the radio astronomy signals polluted by RFI are "cleaned" with the RFIMS before routine back-end correlation processing takes place. The high temporal and frequency resolution of RFIMS allows the detection and excision of RFI better than do standard radio telescope back-end configurations.